People who are injured in pedestrian accidents usually have medical coverage under their health and disability insurance policies, or under worker’s compensation coverage (if the accident occurred while they were on the job). There’s also a chance they could be covered under their own auto insurance policy, or yours.
Below is a quick overview of the most common ways pedestrians are covered in these accidents.
Auto liability insurance
Injured pedestrians can typically file claims against the auto liability insurance policy of the owner or driver of the vehicle. Vehicle owners and drivers are required to have liability insurance to cover any injuries that occur to third parties, as well as damage to the property of those third parties.
No-fault coverage
In no-fault states like Florida, the law requires insurance companies to pay for medical expenses and lost wages of their own policy holders, no matter who was at fault in the accident, using a coverage called personal injury protection (PIP).
The laws here can vary from state to state, but the most common arrangement is that the insurance company of the driver will pay the pedestrian’s medical expenses up to the limit of that PIP coverage, even if the pedestrian was at fault in the accident. There are, however, some exceptions to this system. In some locations, if the pedestrian did not have insurance of his or her own, they will be paid out of a special state fund specifically designed for such situations.
To learn more about how pedestrians are covered when injured in an accident, consult a knowledgeable Sarasota personal injury lawyer at Goldman, Babboni, Fernandez, Murphy & Walsh.